At the very end of the hallway that held the Auror offices in the Ministry of Magic, there was a small windowless interview room. The bare walls and the threadbare carpet were the same shade of depressing grey, and the only furniture was a single filing cabinet and a table with three chairs around it. Narcissa Malfoy was currently sat on one of the chairs; picking at a stray thread on her robes and wondering what on earth she was doing there.

She had awoken that morning, feeling extremely well rested, to find a note on her bedside table from Draco saying he had left early for an assignment at work. He hadn't explained what the assignment was, he never did; not since she had told him she cared not for the details of the job she hadn't wanted him to take.

She was running low on hair potion and floo powder so decided to pay an early morning visit to Diagon Alley. It was always quiet in the mornings and she preferred it that way. It was there, just outside of Madame Primpernelle's shop that Harry and Ron had stopped her and told her she would be escorted to the Ministry for questioning. She was most disgruntled at the insinuation that she had done anything to warrant being questioned but had left with the pair so as not to cause a scene. Half an hour had passed since they had bundled her into the miserable room and told her they would be back soon.

The door finally opened and the two young men sat down opposite her and folded their arms across their chests in an identical motion. Narcissa resisted the urge to smirk at their obviously well-rehearsed act and instead spoke before they had the chance to.

"Can you please explain why my shopping was interrupted so that I could be brought to this disgusting room only to have been left for almost half an hour, without being offered so much as a glass of pumpkin juice?"

"We think you know why, Mrs. Malfoy," Ron replied calmly.

"Clearly not, young man, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my breath asking, would I?"

"Can you tell us where you were at nine-thirty last night?" Harry asked.

"In bed, sleeping," she replied.

"Try again," Ron said.

"I'm not sure what answer you're looking for Mr. Weasley, but that is the only one I have."

"Drop the act," Harry told her, "we know exactly where you were last night. And where you have been going once a year since Lucius was sent to Azkaban."

Narcissa's calm expression faltered for a moment at the mention of her husband's name. Harry and Ron glanced at each other and smiled at their slight upper-hand.

"Touched a nerve there, did we?" Ron said. "Tell us, Narcissa, if you know that the man in Azkaban is not your husband, why did you still visit him last night?"

"I did no such thing! I haven't seen my husband since his trial."

The shock on her face was nearly convincing, and Harry couldn't help but be momentarily impressed. He shifted in his chair, making himself more comfortable and preparing for a long interview. It was going to take a lot to get Narcissa Malfoy to crack.

Hermione and Draco were once more racing through the Ministry of Magic entrance hall. After Hermione's realisation at the prison, she had left the room abruptly, shouting an apology and a thank-you to Rodger as she left. Draco had been hot on her heels demanding she explain where Astoria was and where they were going, it wasn't until they reached the lift that would take them back down the cliff face and to the boat that she finally told him.

They were now headed back to the Auror offices to tell Ron, Harry, and Gawain what they had learned. The latter, as it happened, had been heading to the cafeteria for a mid-afternoon snack when Hermione had run straight into his chest.

"Hermione!" he gasped. "What's the hurry?"

"Need to. Speak with. You. Harry and Ron," she gasped breathlessly.

"They're still upstairs interviewing Narcissa Malfoy, what's-" he began.

"They're what?!" Draco interrupted.

"Interviewing Narcissa, didn't they tell you? They followed her last night after they found out she had been visiting Lucius."

Draco's face flushed red and he barged past Gawain and headed straight for the lifts. Hermione made a move to follow him but was stopped by Gawain demanding to know what was going on. She sighed heavily and began speaking very quickly to tell him what they had found out at the prison.

Moments later, the door to the interview room flew open, crashing against the filing cabinet behind it and causing a loud banging noise that made everyone inside the small room jump. Draco stood in the doorway, his robes hanging off of his left shoulder, his chest heaving and breathing heavy as though he had been running. His appearance caused somewhat of a commotion, and everyone spoke at once.

"Malfoy!" Harry and Ron yelled in unison.

"Draco?" Narscissa asked.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Draco demanded.

Harry stood from his seat behind his desk and approached Draco. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder at Narcissa, who was still sitting in her seat wringing her hands, before speaking to Draco in a lowered voice.

"Malfoy, let's go and talk in the corridor, yeah?"

"No, Potter," he spat, "we'll talk here. We'll talk about why you and Weaselbee stalked my mother and why she is in here being questioned. You're wasting valuable time that should be spent trying to get my fiancée back!" He took a deep breath in, having said the entire rant in one go.

"Listen," Harry said calmly, "I get that you're annoyed about this but this is about Astoria. At least, it is if her disappearance has anything to do with your dad. Your mother has been visiting him."

At this point Narcissa began to protest her innocence once more, until Ron shushed her and Draco spoke again.

"She hasn't, listen-"

"No," Harry interrupted, "you listen. We followed her last night and watched her leave the house, then the guard at Azkaban told us she turned up at the prison. I've got the exact time she arrived there, look, twenty-three minutes past nine." He was holding the mobile phone up to Draco's face, showing him the call he had received the night before.

"I have no idea what that thing is or how it backs up what you're saying, but I know for a fact that isn't true. Mother was in bed fast asleep when I got back from dinner with Hermione last night at half past nine. And as I was saying before-"

"You had dinner with Hermione last night?" Narcissa asked, anger flashing across her features. Ron wore an identical expression.

"Can I please just finish what I was saying?" Draco raised his voice.

"Malfoy, there is nothing you can say that will change the fact that we watched your mother go out last night with a man and then go to Azkaban afterwards."

Draco's temper finally boiled over, he stood up straight, clenched his fists and yelled, "IT WAS MARKUS PARKINSON AT AZKABAN YOU IDIOTS!"

Harry and Ron gaped at Draco, whilst Narcissa began to stutter, "Draco, when did you…I mean…How do you know about Markus?"

Before he had a chance to explain, a red-faced and panting Hermione ran into the room and knocked Harry sideways. Draco grabbed her shoulders and steadied her before she fell.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" she breathed.

Harry nodded as he adjusted his robes and Hermione quickly turned her attentions to Draco. "I can't believe you just ran away from me like that! I had to explain everything to Gawain before he would let me go! We were supposed to tell Harry and Ron together, you know, since it was me who figured out where Astoria is."

"You know where Astoria is?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison.

"And you thought rather than telling us that first, you'd have a go at us for bringing your mum in?" Ron accused.

"I forgot, I was so pissed off that you had followed her without telling me!" Draco snapped in response.

"You forgot that your fiancée was missing?" said Harry.

"Well, not forgot, I just-"

"STOP!" Hermione shouted, and the three boys looked at her in alarm. "Judging by Draco's yelling and the fact that he hasn't told you about Astoria yet, I can only assume there has been a serious lack of communication going on here. Let's start from last night, shall we?"

She conjured up some extra chairs and had everyone take a seat before launching into an explanation. Her conversation with Gawain had filled her in on what Harry and Ron had thought they had witnessed the night before. She explained this to Draco more than anyone else, and he continually tried to interject angrily until she threatened him with a silencing charm. She then went on to tell Harry, Ron, and Narcissa what she and Draco had learned in their visit to Azkaban. As she had done with Gawain earlier that day, she left out the real reason for her suspicions about Corbin, instead telling them about the Imperious Curse as though she had learned it from Stan.

"…and that was when I realised, he had given us a massive hint in the last interview we did with him. 'I'm just like He Who Must Not Be Named, 'cause he killed them all in that Muggle house'," she finished.

Ron narrowed his eyebrows deep in thought for a second, and then gasped. "Astoria is in the old Riddle house!"

Harry's jaw dropped, Hermione beamed at him and even Draco looked impressed.

"Well done, Ron," Hermione said. "So, are we going then?"

The next hour was extremely chaotic. Harry and Ron needed to speak with Gawain to plan the next steps in their investigation, and to start putting a team together to take to the Riddle house. Narcissa caused quite the fuss wanting to go home, but now that they knew Markus Parkinson was involved with Lucius and quite possibly the Knights of Walpurgis, the team had all decided she was much safer remaining at the Ministry. They did, however, let her wait in Harry and Ron's office rather than stay in the interview room. She and Draco got into a very heated argument about her dating Markus for so long without him knowing, him having dinner with Hermione, and the fact that it was his suggestion that she stay in the Auror department.

There were further arguments shortly after that, this time between Draco, Harry and Ron. The two had returned from their meeting with the Head Auror, bearing news that their team for the raid on the Riddle house had been assembled and neither Draco nor Hermione were part of it.

"You're joking, right? You're actually winding me up?" Draco demanded. "Hermione single-handedly figures out where she is and she's not allowed to go? And Astoria is my fiancée and I'm not allowed to go?"

"Hermione isn't a trained Auror, and we don't have the time to go through the proper raid procedures with her. And you aren't on this case, Malfoy. You're a victim, Auror or not. We can't trust you to be professional on this case, especially not if your father is involved," Harry told him.

"Hermione, please tell them this is ridiculous," he pleaded.

Hermione hesitated and looked down at her feet. "Actually, I think they have a point."

Draco stormed out of the office mumbling something about 'stupid Potter'. Harry followed to go and gather the team, shaking his head as he did, leaving Hermione, Ron, and Narcissa. Hermione wandered over to the magical window at the back of the room and stared out at the cloudless blue sky it depicted. She had been there for a few moments when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, and was surprised when she turned around and came face-to-face with Ron.

"Can I have a word in private?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded and followed him out into the empty hallway, where he paused and stood silently for a moment as though gathering his thoughts.

"Ron?" Hermione finally prompted. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Well, er, no, not really. I, er-I wanted to say sorry. I've been a bit of a prat lately, since, you know…" he glossed over the subject of their break-up and continued. "It was childish of me, so…sorry."

Hermione said nothing but leaned forward and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks," he mumbled, his ears going red. "Listen, before we go, I just wanted to say something else. Be careful with Malfoy, okay?"

"Ron, please don't start this again," Hermione sighed.

"I don't want to argue. I just don't trust him. Something tells me he's been keeping stuff from us with this whole Astoria case, I don't know what it is but I'll find out. Please, just promise me you'll be careful?"

His blue eyes bore into hers and the sincerity of his words was clear. He wasn't warning her because he was jealous, or because he thought there was something going on between the pair: he really was worried.

"I promise," Hermione replied, "but for the record, I really think you're wrong about him."

Ron looked at her sadly. "I was worried you would say that."

He turned away from her and Hermione watched him enter Gawain's office where the team of Aurors was getting ready to leave. She returned to her position by the magical window, in which the rain had started to fall. Her eyes followed the droplets as they hit the window, made their way down it and then disappeared. Everything about them seemed real and Hermione was momentarily distracted from her conversation with Ron by the wonderful things magic could do.

Someone standing next to her and nudging her shoulder slightly pulled her out of her trance. She looked to her right to see Draco standing next to her, his solemn face telling her he was still sulking.

"So, you're being careful with me then?" he said without looking at her. He spoke in a voice barely above a whisper so that Narcissa would not hear him, though he knew she would be watching them closely.

"Pardon?"

"I heard your conversation with Weasley, I was just leaving my office when he started talking about me."

"It's rude to eavesdrop, you know," Hermione scolded.

"He shouldn't have been talking about me then, should he? So, what exactly will you do to be careful around me? Is it okay for me to be standing within a foot of you or should I move?" he teased.

"Oh, behave," Hermione hissed. "Ron was just looking out for me. It's the first time he's been nice to me since we broke up, I didn't want to spoil it."

"I don't know why you're so bothered, but whatever. Thank you for defending me though, you really didn't have to."

Hermione looked up to see he was staring intensely at her. "I meant what I said, Draco. I trust you, even if Ron doesn't."

A/N Two chapters in two days! I'm on a roll ;) Hope you all liked this one :D